How to Photograph a Group Portrait

This statue of a group of civic leaders can be found in the grounds of St. Sebastian's Cemetery, Salzburg.

Have you ever faced the challenge of photographing a group portrait? Back in the day I used to run a wedding/family portrait studio. So family portraits; reunions; kindergarten and school photography; and debutant balls provided me with plenty of practice photographing group portraits.

The above photo was made under lovely, soft verandah lighting at the Cemetery of St. Sebastian in historic and beautiful Salzburg, Austria. Numerous luminaries are buried at St. Sebastian including Amadeus Mozart.

You'll notice that the figures in the sculpture have been arranged in such a way that enables us to see them. There's no little guy lost behind some dude with an afro. Let's look at some of the techniques used to achieve the desired result.

Rows

The people depicted have been arranged in a series of rows, a better alternative than placing them in a straight line. For a photographer this allows you to move in closer and, as a consequence, record each subject's face larger than if you had to stand back to fit them all into the frame. With a smaller group its often enough to organise them into a single, curved row with each of them turned inwards towards the centre of the group.

Placing the group into rows also provides a sense of 3-dimensional space (i.e., foreground, mid ground and background) which, in the case of people-based photography, produces a more realistic affect.

Circles and Triangles

Let's put our cameras down for a moment. Imagine you're an artist making a drawing.

How would you draw a face?

A face contains features like eyes, mouth and nose and textures like hair and wrinkles. But even before you draw the face you have to put it into a shape which we'll call a head. You might describe that shape as oval-like. Now let's imagine we're back in kindergarten. My guess is that most of us would be more likely to draw a 2-dimensional circle.

To place a small group of people (e.g., 3) into an harmonious group you'd first have to draw 3 circles placing them on the page in such a way that, when linked by invisible lines, creates a triangle.

For larger groups just keep adding circles (i.e., faces), a few at a time, in such a way that creates new triangles. You can then add the other elements (i.e., eyes, mouth, nose, hair, arms, legs, clothes and props), subject gestures, light and shade, and, where appropriate, color in a way that helps set the mood, depicts characters and explores relationships within the story or event in question.

diagonal lines, linking one or more individuals from one group to another, inside the larger group portrait

a group of people, arranged in a cohesive manner, that appear to belong together

I've traced these techniques back as far as Da Vinci's Last Supper. Where and when it actually started, I know not. But it goes back a long, long time. Because great photographers learn from other great artists, there's no co-incidence that many great photos of rock bands, soldiers and family portraits alike contain the very same approach to composition I've outline in this article.

Photography can be as hard and complicated as you decide to make it. It's your choice as to how many lenses, flash units, stands and light modifiers you carry around with you. Sometimes the best decision is what not to bring along. If it isn't fun, find a way to make it so.

Adversity can lead to creativity, but only when taken in moderation. It can also be physically and psychologically debilitating.

But when it comes to composition I'd advise you to learn the fundamentals and have fun putting them to creative use in your own photography. The great thing about composition is that, once learned, it doesn't weigh you down. In fact it fires the neurons, drives creativity and touches the soul.